Night Eight

 The Great Globular Cluster in Hercules - M 13

Messier 13 was first seen by Edmond Halley in 1714 and added to Messier's list in 1764.  This cluster of stars is thought to be composed of several hundred thousand stars, with estimates varying from around 300,000 to over half a million stars.  When Charles Messier first observed this cluster with his telescope, he could not resolve any individual stars, it appeared to be one large blob. As he said, "Nebula without star..."

The 1974 Arecibo message, which contained encoded information about the human race, DNA, atomic numbers, Earth's position and other information, was beamed from the Arecibo Observatory radio telescope in Puerto Rico towards Messier 13 as an experiment in contacting potential extraterrestrial civilizations in that cluster. M13 was chosen because it was a large, relatively close star cluster that was available at the time and place of the ceremony. The cluster will move through space during the transit time; opinions differ as to whether or not the cluster will be in a position to receive the message by the time that it eventually arrives.

Here is the same image, cropped with one area that has been highlighted. Inside that circle resides NGC 6207, a small galaxy that is 30 million light years from Earth.  I had completely missed it when examining the M13 photos the next day. 

The Monkey Head Nebula, NGC 2174 

This is an emission nebula located in the constellation Orion. 

The Jelly Fish Nebula IC 443

This image was the first disappointment with the new telescope.  While every image can be improved through longer shutter times and more stacked exposures combined with improved post processing, this image shows no sign of life.  It was located close to a first quarter moon which may have overwhelmed the nebula.  I will come back to this object in a few weeks.